More Than Retail: Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee

Most people know Goodwill for its stores. Fewer know what those stores pay for.

Cindy Varner, Chief Mission Officer at Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee, joins Ben Sterling and Graham Thomas to explain how retail revenue funds education, training and employment services across 48 counties. She walks through Goodwill’s new Opportunity Center in Nashville, short-term training shaped by employer advisory councils, a training stipend of at least $150 a week and an individual career and financial plan for every person who comes through a Goodwill center.

She also shares her path from 20 years in Arkansas state government to Goodwill, plans for an Excel Center adult high school in Nashville and why she believes Tennessee’s connected approach to education and workforce sets it apart.

Listen now at tnachieves.org/news/goodwill.